Wettest Ride Ever!

Yesterday it rained like there is no end and as if the whole island would be drowned. The Desaru ride looked washed out. But Clifford sent out a SMS: See you at the jetty! in the morning and off we went.


Total of 9 of us, Enrico included. I started out first with Tee and Don in the rain - both are training for Norseman 2011. It was a fast ride. Stopped over at a shelter waiting for the rest to come by but who knows they bypassed us using another route. Fortunately, we started out again after 10min. But only managed to catch up with the group about 1.5hrs later. We saw them in the distance while 1hour out from jetty. Caught them just before the uturn point.


Don and Tee pushed off about 300m away from me. Headwind was slowing me down a great deal but still tried to close the gap. When I gained ground, I lost them again when the downslope came. This happened many times throughout the whole 55km ride. It was an undulating - not surprising, after all it was Desaru. Something that we were too familiar with.


30min break at uturn point and we started out back to jetty - again in the rain. The swatting rain got quite painful on certain portions. And it really did get very heavy. But there was no stopping - we were home bound! The front group comprised of myself, Derrick and Tee. The last 10km, Tee got a cramp and it was just me and Derrick. I have never felt so much resistance from the water before. I was meshing my gears and was only moving at 30kph while I parted the endless 'red sea' pond of water on the road. The last 1km or so, Derrick found new fuel from his so called empty tank and zoomed straight on. I fell behind by about 150-200m. The last 7km was pure grit as my legs were already lactating up from the meshing. I didnt want to fall too far behind Derrick and held on. On hind sight, I should not have given him such a big lead when he surged forward. Darn!


The visibility was only 2m while in aero position and no wipers on my spectacles. I must have drunk a lot of rain water, collected from my aerobottle. But still a good ride overall.


Mad? Yes, the 9 of us were crazy enough to take on the Rain God. Fulfilling? Definitely! I will do it with the guys again anytime! Totally enjoyed myself!